{"title":"Books by Daniel Ogden","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780198830184","title":"The Dragon in the West","description":"An exploration of how the image and idea of the dragon has evolved through historyHow did the dragon get its wings? Everyone in the modern West has a clear idea of what a dragon looks like and of the sorts of stories it inhabits, not least devotees of the fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin. A cross between a snake and some fearsome mammal, often sporting colossal wings, they live in caves, lie on treasure, maraud, and breathe fire. They are extraordinarily powerful, but even so, ultimately defeated in their battles with humans. What is the origin of this creature?  The Dragon in the West is the first serious and substantial account in any language of the evolution of the modern dragon from its ancient forebears. Daniel Ogden's detailed exploration begins with the drakōn of Greek myth and the draco of the dragon-loving Romans, and a look at the ancient world's female dragons. It brings the story forwards though Christian writings, medieval illustrated manuscripts, and the lives of dragon-duelling saints, before concluding with a study of dragons found in the medieval Germanic world, including those of the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf and the Norse sagas.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56227102949749,"sku":"9780198830184","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780198830184_6db1cf28-bdf2-4327-9a5b-531609b6f7f8.jpg?v=1786012906"},{"product_id":"9780198854319","title":"The Werewolf in the Ancient World","description":"In a moonlit graveyard somewhere in southern Italy, a soldier removes his clothes in readiness to transform himself into a wolf. He depends upon the clothes to recover his human shape, and so he magically turns them to stone, but his secret is revealed when, back in human form, he is seen to carry a wound identical to that recently dealt to a marauding wolf. In Arcadia a man named Damarchus accidentally tastes the flesh of a human sacrifice and is transformed into a wolf for nine years. At Temesa Polites is stoned to death for raping a local girl, only to return to terrorize the people of the city in the form of a demon in a wolfskin. Tales of the werewolf are by now well established as a rich sub-strand of the popular horror genre; less widely known is just how far back in time their provenance lies. These are just some of the werewolf tales that survive from the Graeco-Roman world, and this is the first book in any language to be devoted to their study. It shows how in antiquity werewolves thrived in a story-world shared by witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers, and argues for the primary role of story-telling-as opposed to rites of passage-in the ancient world's general conceptualization of the werewolf. It also seeks to demonstrate how the comparison of equally intriguing medieval tales can be used to fill in gaps in our knowledge of werewolf stories in the ancient world, thereby shedding new light on the origins of the modern phenomenon. All ancient texts bearing upon the subject have been integrated into the discussion in new English translations, so that the book provides not only an accessible overview for a broad readership of all levels of familiarity with ancient languages, but also a comprehensive sourcebook for the ancient werewolf for the purposes of research and study.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56227398844789,"sku":"9780198854319","price":31.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780198854319_4af05ff7-e7c3-4c99-9d97-ca2f159ca889.jpg?v=1786012427"},{"product_id":"9781032778440","title":"The Tyrants of Corinth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Tyrants of Corinth\u003c\/i\u003e is the first monograph in English devoted to the archaic tyranny of Corinth and the engaging legends of Cypselus and Periander, which embrace such themes as hidden babies, animal-helpers, arbitrary violence, necrophilia and vengeful ghosts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295914373493,"sku":"9781032778440","price":42.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781032778440_a55eda15-68cd-4db8-8c0c-cf080f93b7b1.jpg?v=1786017433"},{"product_id":"9780691119687","title":"Greek and Roman Necromancy","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn classical antiquity, there was much interest in necromancy--the consultation of the dead for divination. People could seek knowledge from the dead by sleeping on tombs, visiting oracles, and attempting to reanimate corpses and skulls. Ranging over many of the lands in which Greek and Roman civilizations flourished, including Egypt, from the Greek archaic period through the late Roman empire, this book is the first comprehensive survey of the subject ever published in any language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Daniel Ogden surveys the places, performers, and techniques of necromancy as well as the reasons for turning to it. He investigates the cave-based sites of oracles of the dead at Heracleia Pontica and Tainaron, as well as the oracles at the Acheron and Avernus, which probably consisted of lakeside precincts. He argues that the Acheron oracle has been long misidentified, and considers in detail the traditions attached to each site. Readers meet the personnel--real or imagined--of ancient necromancy: ghosts, zombies, the earliest vampires, evocators, sorcerers, shamans, Persian magi, Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Roman emperors, and witches from Circe to Medea. Ogden explains the technologies used to evocate or reanimate the dead and to compel them to disgorge their secrets. He concludes by examining ancient beliefs about ghosts and their wisdom--beliefs that underpinned and justified the practice of necromancy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The first of its kind and filled with information, this volume will be of central importance to those interested in the rapidly expanding, inherently fascinating, and intellectually exciting subjects of ghosts and magic in antiquity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311847256437,"sku":"9780691119687","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780691119687_a5cc195a-f865-4c88-9ef0-160e83120a8f.jpg?v=1786014589"},{"product_id":"9780300284768","title":"Pausanias of Sparta","description":"The story of Pausanias, the general who defeated the Persians invading Greece and changed the course of historyWeaving together ancient sources, Daniel Ogden tells the gripping story of the enigmatic and controversial Spartan regent to an underage king. Pausanias (ca. 505–ca. 467 BCE) would never have come to power had the Persians not annihilated the Greek forces at Thermopylae in 480 BCE, killing his uncle Leonidas. The next year, Greek forces under the new regent’s command crushed the Persians at the decisive Battle of Plataea. It was a brilliant victory for Pausanias, but his heroic reputation swiftly declined. He was accused of tyrannical ambition, treachery, rape, and murder and came to a grisly and ghostly end, starved to death in Sparta’s Temple of Athena.   In this meticulously researched book—the first full-length biography of Pausanias in English—Ogden searches for the truth behind the ancient stories. Was Pausanias merely misunderstood and misrepresented, or was he an egotist in thrall to his own success? Despite Pausanias’s dark demise, Ogden hails his greatest achievement: by defeating the Persians he ensured the future of Classical Greek culture and the development of Western civilization as we know it.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56367958196597,"sku":"9780300284768","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300284768.jpg?v=1791212837"},{"product_id":"aristomenes-of-messene","title":"Aristomenes of Messene","description":"The legends of Aristomenes, hero of the Messenian resistance to Sparta, were designed to excite, gratify and amuse. Yet they remain almost unknown even to specialist ancient historians. This book, the first monograph to be devoted to Aristomenes, redirects attention to his adventures, which at times resemble those of King Arthur, Robin Hood and even Sinbad the Sailor. The book goes beyond the question of the historicity of Aristomenes, and examines the meaning and symbolism of the stories in their own right. The study will be welcomed by those with an interest in the history of Sparta, in Pausanias (our principal source for the tales), and in Greek traditional narrative. Famously, Sparta tried to suppress the identity and self-confidence of its Messenian helots. Yet here are stories which give access to the imagination of this long-muted but ultimately liberated people. In the Supplementary Chapter D. Ogden explores the multiple motifs that bind the legendary Aristomenes with Hereward the Wake.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57509970215285,"sku":"9781914535673","price":85.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781914535673.jpg?v=1791213825"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-daniel-ogden.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}